(Ken Silva, Headline USA) “The Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades,” U.S. National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, bragged during a Sept. 29 conference hosted by liberal publication, The Atlantic.
“Challenges remain: Iran’s nuclear-weapons program, the tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. But the amount of time I have to spend on crisis and conflict in the Middle East today, compared to any of my predecessors going back to 9/11, is significantly reduced,” he bragged.
Eight days later, Hamas launched its surprised attack against Israel, putting Middle Eastern stability in its most precarious position in years. With the conflict spilling into Lebanon and talks of war between Israel, Syria and Iran—the latter two being Russian allies—leaders including Donald Trump are warning that the U.S. is “closer to World War III than we’ve ever been.”
Sullivan’s display of ignorance last month could mark the largest intelligence failure to date by the Biden administration—rivalling his previous wildly incorrect assessment that the U.S.-supported army in Afghanistan would be able to sustain itself after the U.S. withdrawal in 2021.
Even The Atlantic was forced to acknowledge Sullivan’s gaffe in a follow-up article.
“Sullivan’s comments, made onstage in Washington to The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, also suggest how little sense there was among Biden officials that something like this could happen,” the publication said in an article on Saturday.
“In the coming days, Sullivan’s Pollyannaish view will undoubtedly be subjected to great scrutiny.”
Others have had harsher words for the National Security Advisor.
“Jake Sullivan, the former Clinton aide who participated in the both the Benghazi and Russia hoaxes, is one of those responsible for the worst foreign policy debacles and scandals in American history,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
“This man, a leader of the Russia collusion hoax and other damaging information operations, is a liar and a fraud. And the proof of his claim is in the eating of the pudding. He is a liar. More attention should be paid to him,” said The Federalist Editor-In-Chief Mollie Hemingway.
Sullivan has yet to address is incorrect assessment on the Middle East. Instead, he made another prediction on Wednesday: that the U.S. can support both Ukraine and Israel in their respective wars.
“We firmly reject the notion that the United States of America cannot at once support the freedom-loving people of Ukraine and support the State of Israel,” Sullivan reportedly said.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
